


rise up now from the earth

by kahvikummitus



Category: Pacific Rim (Movies)
Genre: Multi, Uprising AU, an entire mess of a fic, as in a major re-write of uprising bcos i had Issues with it, obviously contains spoilers for uprising
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-03-26
Updated: 2018-04-15
Packaged: 2019-04-08 11:42:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 7,033
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14104611
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kahvikummitus/pseuds/kahvikummitus
Summary: An Uprising AU/re-write, feat. Raleigh, emotional journeys, and a healthy dose of Newt/Hermann.





	1. prologue (the hero's deed is done)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I may or may not have had some issues with Uprising so I'm gonna do some re-writing of it. This is an entirely self-indulgent project and written completely to my own tastes, but hopefully others will enjoy it. Most of the changes I make are gonna be clear from the text itself, but the important ones to know at the start are that Jake left the Jaeger program of his own accord after his father's death because it makes more sense to me plot-wise, and G-- Danger/Avenger are known in this fic as Lady Danger and Lady Avenger to avoid racial slurs.
> 
> Also this is just a prologue and the future chapters are gonna be longer!! I've not written them yet but I've planned them all out and hope to get them written quickly.

2025

Jake Pentecost wakes up, and the sun is shining through the large windows on the opposite wall. He’s not feeling great, which he manages to link to the fact that he seems to be in hospital, based on the steady beeping somewhere near him and general appearance of the room. His sister is there, and Nate, and a nurse or some such medical professional. He finds he’s been in a medically-induced coma for a while, after being injured in a kaiju attack.

“We have some news for you,” Mako says. “Big news.” She smiles at him softly, but the smile doesn’t last. She’s wearing a huge blue jumper.

“The war’s over,” Nate says, taking over for Mako. “The Breach is sealed, and there’s gonna be no more kaiju. It’s done.”

Jake processes this, and it sounds like good news, but neither Mako nor Nate look particularly happy. Maybe he misunderstood something. He’s still feeling a bit drowsy from whatever medication he’s on. He feels Mako take his hand.

“Our father is dead,” she tells him. With her free hand, she wipes a few stray tears from her face. “A lot of people are dead.”

“But it’s over? The war?”

“Yes. It’s over.” 

Jake nods. He’s not sure which piece of news is easier to process. It’s hard to imagine a world not at war. It’s even harder to imagine a world without Stacker Pentecost. He wants to sit up so he can hug his sister properly, but he struggles to get up, and instead, Mako sits on the bed and puts her arms around him.

“We’re gonna be okay,” Nate says. “The war’s over. We can start rebuilding now.”

“Yeah,” Jake says. He can’t think of anything else to say.

“We’ll figure it out,” Mako says.

“Yeah.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (I have no idea what coming out of a medically-induced coma is like but this is a work of fiction.)
> 
> Thank you for reading.


	2. wastelands flower

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jake Pentecost and Amara Namani meet, get in trouble, and end up in Moyulan.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I cannot remember verbatim how any scenes went in the actual film because I don’t have supernatural memory and I only saw Uprising once. I’m also changing some details on purpose, for plot/characterisation resasons and/or to make it easier for me to write. So if you’re reading this and going “that’s not how it went!” then it’s either because I don’t remember or because I want it to go differently (this will become more apparent when the Big Changes of this AU start happening). (That said, do feel free to correct me if I mis-quote someone or mess up a detail and it doesn’t seem intentional.)
> 
> Anyway here it is, chapter 1 (or 2 if you consider the prologue a chapter in its own right)!

2035

Amara Namani has spent several nights carefully removing the plasma capacitor from the old Jaeger. She can’t stick around the abandoned Shatterdome for very long on any given night, but tonight she’s determined not to leave until she has it. It’s the last thing she needs to make Scrapper work, and even finding the part among all the rubble had been something of a task. She finally finishes removing it when she hears footsteps and voices approaching. Time to get out.

She doesn’t know who’s following her, whether it’s the military police, or someone as illegally there as she is, and for that matter she doesn’t know whether they are following her. The sounds recede, and Amara takes the opportunity to make a run for it. Get away first, worry later. Once she has Scrapper all fixed up and ready, no one can stop her. She’s proud of that little thing - it may be small compared to the PPDC’s Jaegers, but it’s got speed and agility on its side. Or will, once she gets it working.

She gets back to her workshop, breathes a sigh of relief, and then-- finds that someone has followed her there.

She tells him to get out, and he refuses. “Not without the plasma capacitor,” he says.

“It’s mine! I need it, for Scrapper.”

“Scrapper, huh. Technically that part belongs to the PPDC.”

“Then they can come get it.”

She’s already started installing the part, and to her relief it fits just as she hoped. If she fires up Scrapper, she can get the hell out of here. At least the guy isn’t physically attacking her for the part - he seems more curious about Scrapper. She just hopes the calculating look in his eye doesn’t speak to a plan to sell Scrapper for parts. She doesn’t get much time to analyse his motives, however, when police vans pull up outside.

“You led them here!” Amara yells at the stranger. In all her time stealing Jaeger scraps and building her own, she has never been found out. Now they’ve caught not only her, but also Scrapper. It’s over for her, all because one man couldn’t let a plasma capacitor go. She gets into Scrapper, hoping against hope that she works, and the guy jumps in despite her protests, and the tiny Jaeger takes them out of the warehouse, past the police, and right into the hands of a much larger Jaeger.

\--

“I’m Jake, by the way,” he tells her when they’re sitting side by side in the jail cell.

“Amara.”

“Sorry about your Jaeger.”

Amara says nothing.

“To be fair, if you’re running from the police, you should probably run somewhere that isn’t your illegal Jaeger workshop.”

“ _I_ wasn’t running from the police.”

“ _You_ were the one who stole the plasma capacitor.”

Amara falls silent again, and only a few minutes later, Jake is being taken into an interrogation room. She hopes he gets a long sentence.

\--

Mako sits at the other end of the table. Well, technically she’s sitting at a table hundreds, maybe thousands of miles away. He’s not really sure. But her hologram is here and looks disapproving, as it always does when he gets picked up by the authorities.

“Come home”, she says.

“Where’s that?” he asks. It’s a fair question. He continues to not have the foggiest where his sister is, right now. He suspects she’s keeping better tabs on him.

“With the PPDC,” she says, like it’s obvious, before she realises his meaning. “Moyulan. China.”

“I’m fairly sure I’m going to prison though, so maybe another time, yeah? Don’t think you can bail me out of this one.”

“It’s not an unregistered Jaeger if it belongs to the PPDC and is piloted by a cadet, supervised by a ranger.”

Jake figures it’s better than prison, and that maybe it’s time to go home and see his sister anyway, but he still has one question.

“Why are you doing this? Why do you _keep_ doing this?”

“Doing what? Giving you another chance?”

Jake nods.

“You’re my brother. My little brother, and I’m gonna keep giving you as many chances as I can.”

Jake doesn’t think he’s done anything to deserve those chances, but maybe this is where he can start.

\--

Only a few short hours later, Jake and Amara step out of the helicopter at Moyulan. To Jake, it looks like every place he grew up, and to Amara it looks like something out of her wildest dreams. She gets a bit misty-eyed looking up at the giant Jaegers, for all they represent. It makes her workshop and Scrapper look even tinier than they are, and she feels more like a kid than she has in years. Back home, it had been her and a group of other Kaiju orphans, sharing knowledge and stealing parts to build Jaegers, so they could protect themselves one day. It had felt noble and important - but compared to this, it feels futile. She knows the stats on destroyed Jaegers and dead pilots back in the Kaiju War, and seeing the scale of the defences, she begins to wonder if she could ever have made a difference.

She’s gone from excitement and pride to inadequacy and smallness in the course of a day, and has to remind herself that war hero Mako Mori herself recruited her for this. Maybe this is the place where she’ll have a chance to make a difference. After all, she’s here to be a Jaeger pilot.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is still a fairly short chapter (I hope to make future ones longer) - I just wanted to set up Amara and Jake's characterisation and get them to Moyulan. 
> 
> Anyway thank you again for reading, next chapter will be up as soon as I finish writing it :)


	3. stay blind to my future and fate

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Amara and Jake settle in at Moyulan, and Nate's reunion with his former best friend doesn't go as planned.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There’s so many cadet characters and I know like three of their names (I tried IMDb and I’m just more confused now). I’m doing my best though!! (Also Vik is non-binary and uses they/them pronouns and it’s canon based on the way they react to being called Viktoriya in the film, I don’t make the rules, I just write the fic.) (I’m kidding I do make the rules.)
> 
> Anyway here we go again!!

The tour of the facilities is more for Amara’s benefit than Jake’s - after all, Jake has spent time here in the past - but he follows along. Not so much to refresh his memory (although after over a decade it’s useful), but to delay his reunion with his old co-pilot. 

It can’t be delayed forever, though, and once Amara has been dropped off at the cadet quarters, Jake has to face Nate. It’s almost as terrifying as facing Mako - or perhaps more so. At least he’s been in touch with Mako a little. Nate, on the other hand, has not heard from Jake in ten years. It’s possible Mako has kept him updated on Jake’s doings, at least the parts she knows (the parts where he has been in trouble), but Mako has told Jake nothing about how Nate has been. 

\--

Nate, upon hearing of Jake’s return, immediately sets out looking for him. It’s difficult to forget your best friend; even more difficult when you’ve shared brains. But when he does find Jake, it’s not the reunion he expects.

For starters, it’s a fairly formal reunion, in which they are told they’ll be working together to train the cadets, including the new arrival. At least, it’s formal on everyone’s side but Jake’s. Nate remembers Jake as witty, funny even. But this Jake just doesn’t seem to take things seriously at all. This Jake is disrespectful and quite frankly a bit of a dick.

Afterwards, Nate tries to talk to Jake.

“Couldn’t stay away, huh, Pentecost?” he says, in a tone he hopes is appropriately friendly considering they haven’t spoken in a decade.

“Missed your pretty face too much,” Jake says, but it’s not friendly at all. 

So Nate gives up. Jake’s the one who disappeared. Jake’s the one who isn’t making any effort now. And yeah, maybe Jake’s been going through some stuff in the last ten years, but he’s not the only one. Nate says something back, something he doesn’t have the energy to regret, at least not right away. However long Jake’s back for, it’s going to feel much longer.

\--

Amara, meanwhile, deals with being dropped right in the middle of a group of cadets. One of them, Vik, is assigned to help her get settled in, but Vik seems reluctant to do this job.

“What’s her problem?” she asks one of the others, a friendlier face.

“They, not her. And it’s anyone’s guess what their problem is, exactly. Just stay out of their way and don’t make the mistake of calling them Viktoriya, and you’ll do alright.”

Amara shrugs, and figures she’s not here to make friends with every cadet she has to bunk with. Sure, one of these people will probably become her co-pilot, but it doesn’t have to be Vik. Anyway, the others seem alright, and it’s enough that Amara believes she might not be completely miserable here.

The moment Amara has free time, though, she gets away from the other cadets. She’s less interested in the people and more interested in the Jaegers. She briefly wonders whether there are any restrictions on areas she has access to, but as long as the doors open, she figures it’s fine. After all, it’s not like she’s cared much before. And really, it’s her disrespect for those kinds of rules in the first place that led her to building a Jaeger, and to coming here.

She finds her favourite Jaeger, Saber Athena, and stares up at it admiringly. Aside from her run-in with the law, she has never been this close to a real Jaeger before. (She mentally corrects herself here - of course Scrapper is a real Jaeger. But it’s not real real, like these ones.) The Jaeger is beautiful, and it’s huge, and she gets close enough to touch its foot.

Across the Shatterdome, a J-tech crew is working on Bracer Phoenix. Amara’s too far away to see what they’re doing - they’ve opened up one of the shoulders, but beyond that it could be anything from repairs to additions to polishing the metal bits. Some part of Amara tells her that’s where she belongs, among the mechanics and technicians, and not out there piloting a Jaeger, but it sounds a lot like the part of her that’s been telling her she’s not good enough for this. So she doesn’t care if it’s right, she’s going to ignore it.

\--

It’s been one of the longest days in Jake’s life, and he’d kind of like to be alone, but he figures since he’s here now he might as well go see his sister. He finds her quarters, and she lets him in, and for a moment it’s like the old days. He used to spend countless hours in her room, sitting on her bed and reading while she sat at her desk and put together miniature Jaegers.

She gave one of the miniatures to him, once. It was their father’s Jaeger, quite a bit bigger than most of the miniatures she made, and it opened up to show tiny versions of their family. It wasn’t to scale, of course - otherwise, the people inside would have been practically invisible to the naked eye - but Jake hadn’t cared. He’d loved it. He’d left it behind when he went.

He sees it now, guarding the corner of her desk. Instead of going to sit on her bed, he looks through the photographs on the wall behind the desk. There are family photos of both her families, a teenage Jake sitting in the palm of a Jaeger, long-dead pilot teams standing in front of their long-destroyed Jaegers. There’s Mako with her co-pilot, his arm around her shoulders, standing in front of Lady Danger. Jake never got to see the two of them in action, unconscious in hospital while his family saved the world.

“Whatever happened to that guy?” he asks.

“Raleigh? He’ll be back next week. He’s inspecting some of the abandoned Shatterdomes.”

“You two still co-pilots?”

“We’re not pilots anymore. We’re co-- something else.” She indicates at a different picture.

“Ohh, I see.” Jake’s voice goes sing-songy as he teases his sister. “Mako has a boyfriend, Mako has a boyfriend…”

Mako laughs and swats at Jake’s head.

“I know this is probably a decade late, but I wanna give him the shovel talk. I don’t care if he’s a war hero, if he hurts my sister…” the threat is left unsaid, because Jake can’t think of anything sufficiently awful that’s also clearly a joke. Mako rolls her eyes, laughing, and then notices the time.

“Come on Jake, let’s go have dinner. You can sit at the cool table with me.”

They walk through the corridors, and turn into the main one. The one with the pictures of all the PPDC personnel who were lost in the Kaiju War. It’s a long corridor, and they fall silent as they walk past the faces, some familiar and others strange. They pass their father, serious in his portrait, and smiling his brightest smile in the family photo placed just beneath it. Jake stops to look at it.

“Hey,” Mako says after a moment. “I’m glad you’re home.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading! I can't believe this fic is getting any attention, I hope no one's gonna be like, horribly disappointed by it.
> 
> Re: Amara - I'm honestly a bit torn, because I think she could seriously thrive in J-tech (she built! an entire Jaeger!!) but also I love her as a pilot fighting Kaiju etc.
> 
> Also if anyone's like "oh my god where's the Newt/Hermann you promised??!" it's in the next chapter so not a long wait!


	4. silver to heart

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> conversations between Newt and Hermann, and Amara and Vik

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is the chapter where a bunch of Newt/Hermann happens, and also a conversation between Amara and Vik. It's like, 80% dialogue, whoops sorry!
> 
> Also, there are some changes to Hermann’s mobility aid situation (see end notes for an explanation).

2035

It’s a big day. Liwen Shao, of Shao Industries, is expected at the Shatterdome to meet with Marshal Quan and General Secretary Mori. She brings along her entourage, including one Dr. Newt Geiszler, whose attention is immediately co-opted by one Dr. Hermann Gottlieb.

“Dr. Geiszler, would you come down to the lab with me? I’d like an expert opinion on a project I’m working on.”

Newt looks to his boss for permission, and Shao waves him away with a little half-smile. Newt follows Hermann down to where the research division is housed, and into Hermann’s lab.

2025

The details of it don’t matter. One day, the world has been saved and Newt and Hermann are grinning at each other, and they think maybe things can be different now. Maybe they can stop fighting and start kissing now. And then reality sinks in, and the nightmares turn up, and they try kissing and then they try fighting again, and neither quite works. In the end, either one of them might have been the one to leave, but Newt leaves first.

2026

It’s been a year of silence between them, and it’s been a good year. Despite his nightmares, Hermann has slept remarkably well for the past eleven months. Newt has a bigger budget and less time pressure at work, and he finds he doesn’t miss kaiju guts as much as he expected to. And most importantly, they’ve found coping mechanisms that work.

So when they meet, a year and two months after they say their bitter goodbyes, it’s surprisingly okay. They’re able to talk about it.

2035

“So, what’s the project?” Newt asks, although he thinks he knows. His suspicion is proven correct as Hermann shuts the door behind them, and then pushes Newt against the door and kisses him hard, dropping his forearm crutches onto the floor in the process..

“Wow, dude, you saw me like two days ago.”

“Fine, we can stop kissing and talk shop if that’s what you really want.”

“What? No, no, I’ll shut up, keep kissing me please.”

“That’s what I thought,” Hermann says and continues to kiss Newt. 

“Hey, you got plans tonight?” Newt asks once he has his mouth to himself again. “I was thinking romantic dinner, my place.”

“Shouldn’t you be working on your project?”

“Yeah yeah, whatever. I wanted to talk to you about something.”

“I’m afraid I can’t. I’m also working on your project. Advising Mako,” he clarifies, when Newt looks confused.

“Tell her our proposal is the greatest thing ever so I can get a raise.”

“And this is why our bosses don’t know about us.”

“Totally fair. Hey, I’d better get back, walk me up? And if anyone asks, what did you need me for?”

“You’re clever, make something up.”

They share one more kiss, and Newt picks up Hermann’s crutches and they walk back out of the lab.

\--

Amara’s resigned herself to never getting to pilot a Jaeger, ever. She’s been testing her drift compatibility with the other cadets, and there’s nothing. Afterwards, Nate racks his brain trying to think of other exercises or tests - of course, initiating a neural handshake would be the best indicator of drift compatibility, but if there is no compatibility the handshake could make things worse. 

“It can’t do more damage than Vik,” Amara says, wincing when she accidentally brushes a bruise left in her side by the other cadet. 

Nate isn't amused. "Look," he says. "We'll figure this out." 

“So do you think there’s something wrong with me?” Amara asks. She tries to make it a joke, but can't mask her concern.

“No. I think you’ve known the other cadets for exactly three days. But do you think there's something wrong with you?”

“No? Maybe.”

Nate doesn't know what to tell her, and after this not-particularly-fruitful conversation, Amara once again sneaks off to the Shatterdome, seeing if the Jaegers will offer some silent guidance, somehow. The J-tech teams are at it again, this time working on Saber Athena, so she stays away in case someone drops a screwdriver or something. Vik’s in here as well, talking to someone from J-tech, but Amara can’t begin to guess what about.

Wandering across the Shatterdome, Amara walks past Bracer Phoenix and towards the massive doors that lead out onto the loading bay and into sunshine. Just before she reaches the door, she feels a tap on her shoulder. It’s Vik.

“I don’t like you,” they start, “and this doesn’t change anything. But I think I can help you.”

“Why don't you like me?”

“Beside the point. Come on.” Vik leads Amara outside to where the late afternoon sun is reflecting off transports and the morning’s rain. They sit down against the wall, neither of them prepared for how cool the air is.

“Tell me about where you come from. You know, where you grew up, what you did,” Vik says. Amara looks at them in slight disbelief - they're not friends, and she’s not prepared to tell her life story. After a moment’s silence, Vik sighs.

“Why do you wanna know?”

“I’m curious. I want to know who you are. Tell me about your Jaeger then. How did you build it? Did you do it alone?”

“Mostly alone. I knew some other kids building Jaegers, and we taught each other stuff, helped each other get parts. But I designed Scrapper and did all the work myself.”

“Single pilot, right?”

“Uh-huh.”

“And those kids were your friends? You miss them?”

“Look, I don’t know how any of this is your business. You said you could help me.”

Vik sighs, again, and pulls the arms of their hoodie over their hands to protect them from the cold.

“One more question. You know how a drift works?”

“Yeah. I mean, not from experience. But two people connect their brains, and they work like one brain to control a Jaeger.”

“So the goal is to share a brain. But you don’t share anything.”

Amara doesn’t know what to say to this. 

“I could be wrong. I mean, obviously I don’t know you,” Vik says, getting up. “But that was my problem. I’m gonna go in now, it’s fucking freezing.”

They walk back in, and after a couple of seconds Amara scrambles to follow. It is freezing.

\--

Back in cadet quarters, after a warm shower and hot dinner, Amara looks around and thinks about how much she knows about her roommates. It turns out to be a lot, more than she thought. Because they're open with each other, and trust each other. She even knows stuff about Vik - the revelation outside that Vik, too, had struggled, is an incredible sign of trust coming from someone who basically declared themselves an enemy to Amara the minute she walked in. 

It never occurred to Amara that she was scared to drift. Now, she’s going to fix it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hermann?? Forearm crutches??? Controversial! I noticed particularly in the first film that Hermann seems to put quite a lot of weight on his cane, and continuously. I’m a cane user myself and I used to support my body weight on my cane in a similar way, and I could only do it for short periods of time because of the pressure it put on my wrist and shoulder. So I’m giving Hermann what I wish I’d had three years ago - forearm crutches. (My headcanon is he still uses his cane in the lab/indoors/for short distances out of convenience, to support himself for short periods of time.)
> 
> Also woo Vik and Amara bonding (sort of)!! Emotional journeys etc etc.
> 
> Anyway let me know if you have questions/concerns/comments about the mobility aid thing (or anything else in this fic obviously). And thank you for reading!


	5. this war without an end

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Nate and Jake have a heart-to-heart, and a rogue Jaeger turns up in Sydney.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I made a chapter-by-chapter plan of this fic and then accidentally put half of what was meant to be this chapter into the previous one (and left out a bunch of scenes that were meant to be in the last chapter). Whoops. But I’m not gonna go back and edit, I’m gonna keep moving on with a revised plan, and either figure out an epilogue for this thing or reduce the chapter count to 10. 
> 
> Also wow this chapter took shockingly long to write?? But here it is! So!

It’s late at night, and Jake tries to pretend he isn’t bothered by the argument he had with Nate earlier in the day, but it does bother him. It was a pretty standard row on training methods and appropriate behaviour in front of cadets and appropriate behaviour in general, and Jake can admit to himself (though he would never admit to Nate) that he may have pushed it a little bit, annoyed the other ranger on purpose. But the thing that bothers him is the thought that a decade ago, he and Nate were so in sync. Now, they’re reduced to petty arguments.

Jake doesn’t want to bother anyone with this, especially Mako, because he knows what she would say. She’d be right, but he doesn’t want to hear it. So he turns to a different source of comfort - a midnight snack cupboard raid. He heads for the kitchen, dressing gown over pyjamas, and goes for the fridge first.

It’s either some kind of ghost drift or sick coincidence that brings Nate to the kitchen just as Jake’s pulling out the whipped cream and beer. Either way, both of them seem to have decided on a truce.

“Beer?” Jake offers, and Nate accepts.

“Ice cream’s on the top shelf;” Nate says, and Jake thanks him for the info. Bowl, ice cream, whipped cream, sprinkles. Wash it down with beer. Even if the source of Jake’s discomfort is standing right there across the table from him, the food helps.

“So are we gonna fight it out or talk it out?” Nate asks eventually.

“If we do fight, Mako’s gonna make us talk it out anyway, so we might as well just talk.”

Nate nods. “You wanna start, or do you want me to go first?”

Jake shrugs. He didn’t think they were going to do the talking thing right now, he just thought they were gonna drink beer and be quiet, maybe figure it out when they were both more awake. But maybe a midnight heart-to-heart was what they needed.

“Let’s make this easy on each other,” Nate starts. “These cadets have six months of training left. That’s how long we’re stuck together. So I’m thinking we make a deal, where you don’t argue with me in front of the cadets or question my authority, and I leave you be.”

“Six months of nodding and going ‘what he said’? I can do that.”

A minute of silence, a few sips of beer and the clinking of an ice cream spoon.

“Is that all you wanted to talk about?” Jake asks.

“No, but… it’s not important.”

Again, Jake shrugs, willing to drop the subject. 

\--

Mako reviews the documents Shao left her. The PPDC meeting is only a few days away, and she’s still not sure which way to vote. She has to admit that the drones seem promising, and she’s more than tempted by the idea of taking them into use - they’d certainly save a lot of lives. She’s known far too many people killed in combat against the Kaiju, people who sacrificed their lives for the cause. They’re heroes, but she’d rather they were alive.

On the other hand, she’s just not convinced the technology is there. She remembers how different combat was when she was in a Jaeger herself, and not just following the fight from Ops. And despite what the experts say about the reaction time, the security of the connection, all of it, she does worry about those things - particularly the potential for a drone to be hacked, or for the connection to just be lost for whatever reason.

Either way, she sometimes wishes she could go back to just restoring Jaegers and fighting Kaiju, and not having to worry about the bigger picture.

\--

Nate and Jake’s truce hits a bump in the road. The subject dropped by them only a few nights ago has to be picked up again - Mako has chosen Lady Avenger, piloted by none other than Nate and Jake, to stand guard in Sydney.

“We’re gonna have to drift,” Nate says, trying to process it all.

“Thanks, Captain Obvious,” Jake replies, and Nate shoots him a dirty look. 

“We have to clear the air. I don’t think we can drift like this.”

“Can’t we sort this all out once we’re sharing a brain?”

There’s a pause as they figure out what to say, and how to say it.

“I’ve missed you,” Nate admits. It’s surprisingly easy to say, once he gets there.

“That’s so embarrassing. Like, I’ve missed you too, but I’m not about to just admit it, like a total loser.” Jake somehow looks exactly like he did ten years ago, teasing grin and all.

“You just did!” Now Nate’s grinning too. 

“Yeah? What are you gonna do about it?”

“There’s nothing else for it. We’re gonna have to hug this one out, man.”

\--

Mako looks out of her helicopter window at Sydney. It’s a beautiful day, much as it seems to be every time she’s in Sydney, and as she nears the PPDC building, she sees Avenger standing tall just beside it. It’s probably a boring job, just standing still and trying to look important, but she’s proud of her little brother just the same. Mako herself wants to get this meeting over with - she has just received a message from Raleigh that he’s on his way back to Moyulan, and it’s been a month since she’s seen him.

She’s putting her things away, getting ready for the helicopter to land, when she notices Avenger reacting to something, moving away from its position. The helicopter pilot yells something, but whatever it is, it’s lost in the general noise of the helicopter itself. They don’t land, and Mako looks down to see chaos and commotion down in the streets. Finally, she sees its source.

A Jaeger, one she’s never seen before, approaching from the east.

It’s fast and agile, and it’s coming straight for her and the PPDC. Lady Avenger tries to stop it, but it’s destroying buildings, leaving its huge footprints on the streets, stepping right over the trees of the nearby park. Mako idly wonders if someone has given it a codename, and then figures she’s in a position to try to get data out of it. She tells the pilot to keep it in view at all times, so she can film it, and take readings, streaming the data directly to PPDC. The Sydney HQ will be too busy to analyse it right now, but it might come in useful later.

Mako can’t imagine how someone could have built something like that without anyone noticing. Unlike most rogue Jaegers she knows of, this one isn’t made of scraps or stolen parts, and it’s clearly working beautifully. It’s made by someone who really knew what they were doing.

She’s just noticing there’s something odd about the readings when she watches the rogue Jaeger’s fist come right at her, trying to knock the helicopter right out of the sky. Avenger catches the helicopter just in time, but by the time Nate and Jake are finished putting Mako and her pilot down somewhere safe, the other Jaeger has left a large hole in the PPDC building and is headed back towards the harbour. A news helicopter films it disappear into the water, and it’s all over as quickly as it started.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I spent like an hour trying to match up screencaps and trailer clips with maps and my own knowledge of Sydney before I realised I was way overthinking it. I mean, if the first PR film could have a coastal wall running perpendicular to the Harbour Bridge (seriously guys, no wonder it didn’t keep Sydney safe) then I’m allowed to not know exactly where Obsidian Fury came onto land and where the PPDC building is. But it was a great way to procrastinate on writing so there’s that :D
> 
> Phew come find me on tumblr (also kahvikummitus on there) and talk to me about stuff.
> 
> And as always, thank you for reading!


	6. count my stitches

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Raleigh returns to Moyulan, and there's a busy day in Ops.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> First of all, huge thanks for all the feedback on this - apologies that I've not taken time to respond to comments individually, but I really really appreciate them! Now, onto chapter notes:
> 
> Finally, we have a Raleigh! We also have a Reyes - I was going to include her much earlier but I wasn’t sure how to do it, and I figured if I couldn’t treat her better than canon then I might as well leave her be (not that she does much in this but, you know). Also, I don’t think Newt was in Sydney in the film?? But I don’t care, I had him be there bcos it makes sense if he’s one of the main drone project people right?? Finally, I’ve changed a bunch of details about how the rogue Jaeger is located - there’s an explanation of this in the end notes.

Raleigh has been going back and forth between Ops and the landing pad ever since he heard the news from Sydney. Now, finally, he sees the transports approaching from the south. Lady Avenger is looking somewhat bruised, and a J-tech team is there to meet her, but even though it stings a bit to see her looking like that Raleigh reminds himself that this version of Lady isn’t his Jaeger. Anyway, he’s much more concerned for the people approaching in the plane, just behind the Jaeger.

Specifically one person. Mako notices him as soon as she gets off the plane, and, limping slightly, walks right into his arms without saying a word. She doesn’t know what to say - she doesn’t even know right now how she feels. But with Raleigh, she doesn’t have to say anything. Even at the times they don’t understand exactly what the other is thinking or feeling, they understand each other. And they understand that now, they just need to hang on to each other for a bit.

\--

Ops is busy, trying to analyse the information Mako got and piecing together a full picture from that and other data. Reyes has been called in to look through images of the rogue Jaeger, now codenamed Obsidian Fury, lending her expertise to figuring out who might have built something like it. McKinney is analysing its movements, trying to figure out where it came from and what it was trying to accomplish. Hermann is trying all sorts of things on Mako’s data - the rogue Jaeger was blocking transmissions and only fragments got through. Unfortunately, Mako’s device was damaged when her helicopter was hit, and though there are people working on it, it’s unlikely they’ll be able to get much data out of it.

Marshal Quan, meanwhile, is sifting through all the information he can find. Eyewitness reports and photographs, damage reports, the whole lot. Most rogue Jaegers have been relatively harmless - though generally intended for criminal purposes, they’ve been small and not always well-built, made from stolen scraps and rarely by anyone with real expertise. Many have been found before they were finished, and the ones that were functional have been easy enough to stop, and the loss of life has been minimal. This one, however, is bothering the hell out of him. Not only did it kill and injure hundreds (maybe thousands once the final numbers come in) in its brief time in Sydney, it got away. By the time other Jaegers were arriving on the scene, Obsidian Fury was making its way right back into the ocean where it came from.

Hermann finishes reconstructing the data, both what Mako managed to send and what was recovered from the mostly-shattered device at the bottom of the helicopter, and it doesn’t look like the most useful data ever. The file is a spreadsheet, with no headers and more than half of the data missing - the only positive is that it appears to have retained its structure.

Mako has been bouncing around Ops ever since she got released from the medbay, trying to help where she can. Now the Marshal lets her be useful, and she fills in as much of the spreadsheet as she can, trying to remember exactly what she measured. With more than half of the headers in place, Hermann starts running the sheet through different databases to compare the data, but comes back with no matches. He uses a program to try to fill in the data, based on probability, but it doesn’t help.

“But that was remote data, right?” Reyes asks. “I know this isn’t my area of expertise, but could we scan other places to look for those readings?”

“If the readings are unique, we could assume that anything that gives off those same readings is what we’re looking for,” Hermann says. “It’s theoretically possible, yes, but it’s completely impractical. We’d have to scan the entire world.”

“We could start with the known trajectory of the Jaeger,” McKinney says. “We know what direction it went when it left.”

Quan is already reaching for a phone, an idea forming in his head: “Maybe we could borrow a satellite. Something in low Earth orbit that could take those kinds of readings. We’ve worked with space agencies before, I’m sure they wouldn’t mind.”

\--

The night is restless. 

Hermann calls Newt, when he finally gets out of Ops and back to his quarters. They’ve sent messages throughout the day, Hermann ensuring Newt was alright after what happened in Sydney, and Newt telling Hermann seventeen times that he loves him.

“So I guess date night tomorrow is cancelled, huh?” Newt says.

“I’m afraid it looks that way.”

“When you find whoever’s piloting that thing, I’m gonna kick their asses. Who do they think they are, huh, keeping my boyfriend too busy to see me? Rude.”

“Yes, how thoughtless of them.”

“Honestly, it’s full-on homophobic. Hey, have I mentioned I love you?”

“Not in the last twenty minutes.”

“I love you.”

“I love you too. So much, Newton.”

\--

Raleigh’s already in bed when Mako comes in, but he’s not asleep. He’s working on his report on the condition of the abandoned Shatterdomes, although reading that report is not high on the list of PPDC’s priorities at the moment. He puts away his work when Mako opens the door and puts his arms around her when she collapses into bed, still fully dressed.

Mako’s almost asleep when she feels Raleigh lift her up and back into a sitting position.

“Pyjamas, teeth, then bed,” he says, and Mako grumbles vaguely in response, but obliges.

“It’s horrible,” she says, when she’s back in bed wearing Raleigh’s old Lady Danger shirt and with her head on the pillow facing him. Raleigh reaches up to brush a strand of hair off her face. The Kaiju Blue that used to frame her face has long since faded - she now wears the colour hidden at the back of her neck.

“Jaegers used to be a symbol of hope,” she continues. “And now people are using them for this.”

Neither of them sleep well, waiting for the world to start making sense again.

\--

Twenty-nine hours after Marshal Quan convinces space agencies to lend them satellite time, a call comes through from the other side of the world. The Earth observation satellite Ursa has taken readings in Siberia that are a 96% match for the partial data and 89% for the probabilistically completed data. It’s good enough that the PPDC decides to send a couple of Jaegers to investigate.

“I want to go,” Mako says, rushing into Ops in the middle of her dinner the moment she hears the news.

“You’re injured,” Marshal Quan points out.

“Not too badly to pilot.”

“You’re not cleared for it, and I won’t have you injuring yourself more.”

Mako gives in, but she’s not happy about it. She never liked being the one left behind when everyone else went off in their Jaegers, and apparently she’s not past that. Also, she wants to give a good punch to whoever it was that nearly killed her. Out in the hallway, she hands out a tiny punch to an unsuspecting wall, and it’s the pain of unthinkingly doing it with her injured arm that makes her accept the Marshal’s decision finally.

She makes do with watching her brother take off once more.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Now for a super long bit of notes!
> 
> In the film, the strange readings that turned out to be a map made literally no sense. First of all not only was it left entirely unclear what kind of measurements Mako was taking, I can’t imagine what kind of remote measurements could possibly be transformed into image data of where the Jaeger was built. So I made it some vague spreadsheet where Mako herself isn’t sure what everything corresponds to bcos she was just getting whatever data she could (and she didn’t physically type the data in), and I’m doing a fair bit of handwaving with it. I am at least slightly more scientifically accurate than the film though, and that’s all that matters.
> 
> Ursa isn’t a real satellite, but in this story it’s an Earth observation satellite in orbit of the Arctic region specifically. I named it Ursa for the Ursa Major and Minor constellations, for which the Arctic is also named - it seemed poetic. (Also, there’s a prominent astronomical association in Finland called Ursa, presumably also named after one/both of these constellations.)
> 
> Also, does Raleigh have a personality outside of being in love with Mako? Not in this chapter he doesn't apparently.


	7. fear what tomorrow may take

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kaiju, research, more Kaiju.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Aight lads chapter seven, here we go!! I promise I haven’t forgotten this fic - I’ve just had a good-old fashioned depressive episode, you know how it is. Anyway it’s Kaiju time, let’s do this!

Permafrost crunching underneath Lady Avenger’s feet, Nate and Jake make their way across the island where the signal was detected. Somewhere within a few kilometres of them, Obsidian Fury is hiding, preparing for whatever it has planned next. It’s loud inside the Jaeger, the engines and joints and communications chatter, but outside there’s nothing but silence blanketed in snow. What used to be a factory building Jaegers is now just a group of abandoned buildings in the middle of nowhere.

Soon, the group of abandoned buildings is several piles of rubble and dust.

It’s a tough fight - when Lady Avenger brings out a sword, Obsidian Fury brings out two. Where Lady Avenger misses, Obsidian Fury hits. It’s a lucky hit that eventually turns the fight around and gets Lady the upper hand. Finally Fury crumbles, and Jake and Nate rip its body open to find whoever’s inside.

It’s a bit of a shock. Obsidian Fury isn’t piloted by humans at all. It’s piloted by a Kaiju.

\--

While Lady Avenger and Obsidian Fury are flown back to Moyulan, Mako gets on the phone with Liwen Shao, who sends in experts to help with the analysis of the Jaeger’s remains. There’s a press conference about the deactivation of the rogue Jaeger, but no mention of the pilot yet, not until it’s confirmed. 

\--

“It’s definitely Kaiju,” the K-scientists conclude, and one of Liwen Shao’s experts (Newt) concurs. Not an imitation, not an illusion. A Kaiju, alive until very recently, from a different dimension.

“How did it get through? We would have detected a breach,” Quan says.

“Technically,” Hermann says, the horror of realisation on his face, “our instruments aren’t designed to detect a breach. They detect breach-related activity.”

“That sounds like a terrible design,” McKinney points out.

“Back in the war, the Breach just existed. We didn’t need to be able to detect it, because we could find it based on the activity. It was more important to know when something was coming through, and then when the Breach was closed, it was just assumed that detecting breach activity was equivalent to detecting a breach. It could be that there are different types of breach, that this one has a different activity signature, and the instruments ignored it.” Even as he speaks, Hermann’s mind is racing, trying to figure out how something like this could happen without them knowing.

Quan closes his eyes, and for a moment he looks like he is either about to walk away and give up on the world, or curse the entire universe. The moment passes, thankfully.

“I want the instrument logs checked to see if there was anything that could be breach activity. If that thing came through from another universe, I want to know when and where. Once we figure that out, we update the instruments to alert us about it, and anything else even remotely unusual anywhere in the Pacific Ocean.”

\--

The Kaiju biologists still have a long day and night ahead of them as they comb through the pilot’s remains for clues. Much of the brain is gone, destroyed along with the Jaeger, reacting badly with the Earth’s atmosphere. Still, maybe they can figure out how it controlled the Jaeger, how its brain was able to withstand the neural load. Kaiju Blue is loaded into a mass spectrometer, in an effort to figure out how long the Kaiju has been on this planet. Microscopic analysis compares the tissue structure to samples from over a decade ago, to see if there are differences. The ridiculously heavy and expensive sequencer is brought out from retirement, and the K-science department’s budget is stretched on the sequencing of the Kaiju genetic material for a deeper comparison.

When cleaning up the mess Lady Avenger made of the upper thoracic region, they find a transmitter. Hermann and McKinney confirm that it’s sending a signal - probably activated by either the deactivation of the Jaeger or the death of the Kaiju - and this signal could mean bad news. It takes three hours and an external tech consultant to finally shut down the signal, and they hope that it’s not too late.

\--

Another team of people spend the better part of a day combing through data not just from the PPDC’s breach detection instruments, but from satellites, seismic observatories, weather reports-- anything that could give an indication of breach activity. Eventually, they find seven events in the last decade that could be breach-related - the most recent of these from three weeks ago.

They’re partway through updating their equipment to automatically detecting and alerting them about these potential breach events, when another one occurs in a different part of the ocean. And another. And Kaiju begin coming through.

\--

Jaeger pilots have been training for years in anticipation of a day that might never come. And now, that day is here. As alarms ring across the edge of the Pacific Ocean, they begin to suit up and head for the deep dark.

\--

Hermann, with nothing further to do, heads for bed. He’s been up for more than 24 hours, occasionally napping restlessly in a corner when he’s had the chance. He doesn’t think he’ll be able to sleep now with the fight going on, but he’s got to try.

In the corridor outside Ops, Newt, fresh from the lab, catches up to Hermann.

“Hey, Hermann. Can I talk to you about something?”

“Of course.”

“With the world ending and all, I didn’t want to leave anything unsaid. The last week, all the dates we’ve had to cancel, I was gonna propose to you.”

“Propose. Marriage?”

“Yeah, that. With the drone project all done I was gonna leave Shao Industries and settle down with you. So if the world ends now I’m gonna be really upset.”

Hermann puts his arms around Newt, unsure what the right thing to say is. Whether he should chide Newt about making plans for the future without talking to him about it, or reassure him that of course the world isn’t going to end.

So he just says “yes” and “of course I’ll marry you” and “I love you”, punctuates his words with kisses, holds Newt close.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Changing canon is all fun and games until you have to deal with plot holes left behind. That’s how you get things like, well, most of the events of this chapter. (I have loved tossing ideas around for this fic, though!)
> 
> Anyway soz about the wait between chapters, hopefully the next gap won't be quite as long yeah.


End file.
